Man, I DO love flowers/plants with monster/creepy names! Wish I could grow a whole garden with them... Last weekend my aunt showed me one of her flowers and called it a Ghost Flower. Naturally, I became curious about it and decided to learn more about them. The problem is that there are more than one species referred to as Ghost Flowers, and I couldn't find information about my aunt's specific flower, given that I don't know the species name. Neverhteless, I wanted to write a little about those beings, so here you go! One of the Ghost Flowers (pictured above) is also known as Ghosts of Summer's Woods, Indian Pipe, Corpse Plant (again this name! Remember when I spoke about them?), Fairy Smoke, Eyebright and Convulsion Weed, among many others. This plant is native to temperate regions of Asia, North America and northern South America, but with large gaps between areas, being generally scarce or rare in occurrence. Their white color is due to lack of chlorophyll. Since they are parasitic, though, it doesn't make much difference. Its hosts are certain fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, meaning it ultimately gets its energy from photosynthetic trees. Whereas they don't need sunlight to grow, Ghost Flowers can live in dark areas as in the understory of dense forests. You can understand the eerie feeling of finding one of those in dark corners of woods, huh? As the Indian Pipe matures and begins producing seeds, it straightens out until the blossom is held vertically. The color changes when the plant is fertilized, turning pale pink. The plant can't be picked because its flesh turns black when cut or even bruised. It also oozes a clear, gelatinous substance when harvested.It was used as a medicine, first by American Indians. They used it as an eye lotion which gave rise to the name "Eyebright". Americans of the last century treated spasms, fainting spells, and nervous conditions with it, which gave rise to the names "Convulsion Weed" and "Fitroot". But where does the name "Indian Pipe" comes from? Actually, from a Cherokee legend, told below.

"A long time ago, before selfishness came into the world, the Cherokee people were happy sharing the hunting and fishing places with their neighbors. All this changed when Selfishness came into the world and man began to quarrel. The Cherokee Indians quarreled with tribes on the east. Finally the chiefs of several tribes met in council to try to settle the dispute. They smoked the pipe and continued to quarrel for seven days and seven nights. This displeased the Great Spirit because people are not supposed to smoke the pipe until they make peace. As he looked upon the old men with heads bowed, he decided to do something to remind people to smoke the pipe only at the time they make peace.The Great Spirit turned the old men into greyish flowers now called 'Indian Pipes' and he made them grow where friends and relatives had quarreled. He made the smoke hang over these mountains until all the people all over the world learn to live together in peace."

I tend to associate Ireland with potatoes (like I said yesterday), tap dancing (thanks to Michael Flatley) and lucky four leaf clovers. I used to consider myself very fortunate because, it was almost always easy for me to find beds of four leaf clovers (the picture above is from one of that I found in Alfenas in 2012) and I always picked a lot of them to dry out and give as a present to family and friends. So you can imagine my disappointment when I found out that they may not actually be lucky clovers. There is another plant, very similar to the original clover (which has three leafs - the fourth one only appears when there is a mistake in the cell division) and this "generic" clover's leaf is always divided in four parts. Beds of four leaf clovers are very rare, not to say probably nonexistent. So, my proud "lucky clovers" may not be as special as I thought they were. Nonetheless, I'm still very fond of them.

Let's get some zombies, I mean, bombs! (Image from the game "Plants vs Zombies")

Dogs may loose their jobs if this actually happens! And that's because a Researcher at Colorado State University is trying to use flowers as bomb-sniffers. Plants are uniquely suited by evolution to chemical analyze their environment, in detecting pests, for example. When plants are modified to sense TNT, for example, they react to levels one-hundredth of anything a bomb-sniffing dog could muster. It’s possible to modify the plants to drain off chlorophyll, which changes the color from green to white, when explosives are detected. The task now is to refine the process to make the color change faster and for ways for the plant to recover the chlorophyll after the detection process is over, so it can be used again.

My all time favourite flower is Lavender (Lavandula sp). However, I had never tried its tea until today. It's delicious and brings many benefits, some of which are: combating headaches and migraines, intestinal gas, asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, rheumatic pain, influenza, rheumatism, nervous tension and cough, and many other things, as well as restoring the menstrual flow and acting as a sedative.

And this one reminds me of a Pokémon (Vileplume, anyone?)! The Rafflesia arnoldi, is known as Monster Flower (a free Portuguese translation) and also as Corpse Flower. Like the another Corpse Flower I spoke about, the R. arnoldi smells like rotting flesh. It is the largest flower in the world and can grow to massive proportions, with a flower diameter of up to one meter and weights up to 11 kilograms! Although it has no leaves, stems or roots that the eye can see, the monster flower is considered a plant and relies on its strong perfume to attract insects for pollination. It also has parasitic tendencies: living off the water and nutrients from the hapless Tetrastigma vine, the monster flower is able to grow as large as it does.Found only in the dwindling rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo, pollination rarely occurs and the bud death rate is high (at about 80-90%). The few buds that actually bloom take many months to do so, and when they do they last no more than a few days before dying. There are great conservation efforts in place to protect the habitat of the Rafflesia species so future generations can experience the sight and smell of the largest flower on Earth.

I had some technical difficulties with the Weebly site yesterday, so this post got a little delayed. If those problems were totally solved, however, i'm not completely sure. Let's hope for the best! This gigantic flower appealed to me because of its unusual Portuguese name ("Flor Cadáver"), but in English it is commonly known as the Titan Arum. The corpse reference is due to the incredibly nauseating smell it emits during flowering. Scientists claim it resembles rotting flesh, which is pretty disgusting. The flowering, however, is such a rare and unpredictable event that entire communities gather to see it (despite the horrible smell, I suppose)! Because of this type of blooming, it is considered a fickle flower. Its other name, Titan Arum, is also correct: the flowering structure rises up to three metres above the ground and it also has a single immense leaf. Certainly is a giant among plants! It dwells in the rainforests of western Sumatra, in the Indonesian archipelago, on steep hillsides that are 120 to 365 metres above sea level and it's classified as Vulnerable on the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. I wonder if they used to be destroyed because of their stench! =P This plant can be used for ornamental displays and is an immensely popular visitor attraction.

Sounds like a poethic metaphor, but it's true. Although this red liquid is actually a resin that prevents insects from proliferating in its bark, it generally appears when the Dragon Blood tree is cut or wounded. This species is native of the Socotra archipelago off the horn of Africa. The resin has colouring properties, which also appears in other dragon trees, and were recorded by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is still used in incenses, dyes, varnishes and in medicine to this day.

Except for humans, apparently the most dangerous species out there is the Black Wattle or Black Acacia (Acacia mearnsii). This plant is originally from Australia, and was introduced in several parts of the globe in the 70's to recover riparian areas and as ornamentation. The results were catastrophic. The problem is that this Acacia alters the soil nutrients, generating substances that prevent the germination of the native species where it is planted. It can only be eliminated by powerful herbicides, which will also affect the other nearby plants as well, practically destroying the vegetation of the area.

I chose to investigate about this plant because of its alleged Portuguese name "Flor da Lua" (Moon Flower in a literal translation). Little did I know that it would attract me even more because of another name, this time of its fruit, the Dragonfruit or Pitahaya! Other names for this plant are Night blooming Cereus, Strawberry Pear, Belle of the Night or Conderella Plant.

The Dragonfruit (Image by Google)

The Dragonfruit name comes from the aspect of the fruit (duh), which has some scales, which reminded people of dragon scales. It's actually a very pretty fruit! And this is the most cultivated Cactaceae in its genus (according to Wikipedia), though its native origin is still unknown. The flower is described as big, very fragrant and usually blooms at night. The fruit is rich in vitamins and phosphorus, helping in digestion. It can also help to reduce cholesterol, to regulate diabetes and gastritis, among other effects.

I remember hearing about Belladonna in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993) as Deadly Nightshade, when Sally is making a special potion for Jack. Since then I often wondered which were the real properties of the plant.Turns out that Atropa belladona is a very poisonous plant (all of its parts can kill!) and legend tells that the Devil watches this plants growth. Its scientific name, however, comes from Greek mythology. Atropos was one of the three Fates, the one responsible for cutting the mortal's threads of life. Its name means ineluctable, inevitable. Makes sense! Women in ancient Rome used the Belladona's fruit juice to dilate the pupil of the eyes as a cosmetic, and that is where the "Bella Dona" name comes from. Its fruits commonly poisoned children, who were attracted by their sweet taste and black color. Only 3 or 4 were enough to kill a child! No wonder it is not often cultivated!